Some of the top Greek businesses of the medical and hotel field joined their forces for the first time, participating in the organization of the first event to promote Greek Medical tourism in Russia, under the title Greek Medical Tourism Workshop.
Evgeny Pisarevsky, Deputy Head of Rostourism organization, welcomed the forum and expressed his surprise that Greece was absent up till now from the market of medical services in Russia. He estimated that Greece, thanks to its exceptional climate, its gastronomy and the historic-cultural adjacency with Russia, can substantially upgrade its position in the Russian market within the next years, as shown by the constantly increasing number of Russian tourists visiting Greece.
Maya Lomidze, Head of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR), among the organizers along with Tourism Today, welcomed the fact that Greece has enriched its tourism product, indicating in this way the interest of prolonging the tourist season and the attraction of higher budget tourists. She pointed out that the Russian market related to medical tourism comes up to 300,000 tourists, with an annual growth rate up to 20 percent.
This first effort, under the auspices of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Tourism, was supported with grants and the active presence of the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO), the Public Properties Company SA (ETAD), the Greek Embassy in Moscow, and the Russian-language magazine Ellada.
Gerasimos Davaris, Chargé d’Affaires of the Greek Embassy, Ioannis Plotas, Consul General of Greece, Elias Thanassas, Head of the Embassy’s Office of Economic and Commercial Affairs, Polikarpos Efstathiou, Head of GNTO’s Office and Gregory Sarafianos, President of the Panhellenic Association of Private Clinics (PEIK) attended the event.
Fyodor Yurchikhin, a cosmonaut of Greek descent, welcomed the work of this first forum, just 24 hours before leaving for the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, from where he will be launched into space for the fourth time on May 28.
source: http://www.eu.greekreporter.com / Greek Reporter Europe / Home / by Margarita Papantoniou / May 17th, 2013
